Cars of the QC

[KJHburg]

https://www.charlottemotorspeedway.com/experiences/cars-and-coffee/

[KJHburg]

the closest auto manufacturing plant to Charlotte the HUGE BMW plant in Spartanburg County SC.  I finally took the tour and visited the museum.  It was awesome and I have toured 2 Toyota plants (TX and KY)  and one Boeing plant (WA)   

8 Million square feet on their campus

11,000 employees started with 700 in the early 1990s

Cafeteria which does include a German food section seats 1000

1500 trucks making deliveries every day due to their just in time inventory (and many suppliers here in NC) 

60% of the vehicles produced exported through Charleston (87% of the exports here) and lesser through Brunswick and Jacksonville

50% of the energy needed at the plant comes from methane gas from a landfill 8 miles away to their energy plant

2 fire stations on site

tour guide hinted engine production currently in England come come over here too.

Well worth the $10 

Employee parking lot full of BMWs and pick up trucks.  

https://www.bmwgroup-werke.com/spartanburg/en.html   average vehicle takes 28 hours from start to finish

easy to find my Toyota in the visitors lot LOL 

No photography allowed inside the plant or you will be detained!    Heavy usage of robotics doing everything from installing hatches, hoods, doors etc but still 11,000 humans running around. Plant operates 24/7 

 

[videtur quam contuor]

Great photos. When I was in high school the father of one of my neighborhood friends had an Isetta. Never understood as he had a wife and two children. Maybe the idea was that he could escape the family with that car. They had another car, an American brand.

[turbocraig]

^^Those photos are amazing!  Thanks for sharing.  Years ago, I went down there to accept delivery with a friend for a new BMW they had ordered and it included the race track experience with the retired F1 drivers riding shotgun.  If you've never done it, it is incredible.  After our initial orientation, our group was taken out to the track where a new M5 sat waaaaaay in the distance (ass end facing us).  We saw a figure walk to the car, get in and reverse at full throttle directly toward us, and at the last second do a 180 and come to a stop about 25' in front of us.  He was the lead guy that was giving us all the orders through the walkie talkies or headsets (I can't remember which) as we did some insane driving and maneuvers, and he was some famous F1 driver from somewhere in Europe that had been hired by BMW to create that program there back when that facility opened.  They had acres of cars - every model/bodystyle/engine displacement BMW offered, so you could run the sh!t out of a brand new version of the car you'd come to take delivery of to see what its potential was without using your own car.  I've never smelled so much burning rubber in my life.  So fun.

[KJHburg]

41 minutes ago, turbocraig said:

^^Those photos are amazing!  Thanks for sharing.  Years ago, I went down there to accept delivery with a friend for a new BMW they had ordered and it included the race track experience with the retired F1 drivers riding shotgun.  If you've never done it, it is incredible.  After our initial orientation, our group was taken out to the track where a new M5 sat waaaaaay in the distance (ass end facing us).  We saw a figure walk to the car, get in and reverse at full throttle directly toward us, and at the last second do a 180 and come to a stop about 25' in front of us.  He was the lead guy that was giving us all the orders through the walkie talkies or headsets (I can't remember which) as we did some insane driving and maneuvers, and he was some famous F1 driver from somewhere in Europe that had been hired by BMW to create that program there back when that facility opened.  They had acres of cars - every model/bodystyle/engine displacement BMW offered, so you could run the sh!t out of a brand new version of the car you'd come to take delivery of to see what its potential was without using your own car.  I've never smelled so much burning rubber in my life.  So fun.

the tour guide was telling people to take delivery of their car at the plant and they can do the experience.  You can do it separately I think too  and I do remember her saying you wont drive your car but one of their cars owned by the company. 

[DJ8hep]

I saw this on the little sugar creek greenway! Curious to know what the make and model is!

[atlrvr]

Looks like a 1954 Ford Crestline.

[SentioVenia]

On 9/21/2023 at 10:24 PM, DJ8hep said:

I saw this on the little sugar creek greenway! Curious to know what the make and model is!

 

 

The subreddit whatisthiscar is fantastic for people being able to identify any car from the smallest part. 

They say it's a 1954 Ford Country Squire station wagon.

Edited September 24, 2023 by SentioVenia
New information

[videtur quam contuor]

Cars of the QC (Quebec)

In the Chateau Ramezay museum of History is this DeDion-Bouton 1903 2 cylinder gasoline voiture (car). Imported by a wealthy man and said to be the first in the city. Originally licensed as a bicycle as that was the only licensing authority at the time. Shortly after became the first automobile license holder thus the QC 1 displayed here. Sometimes known as a vis-a-vis design with passengers facing driver. Unknown to me if this is original color but it is beautiful.

deDion was an advanced design and the suspension he perfected has been used for over a hundred years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Dion-Bouton

 

 

[videtur quam contuor]

Electric vehicle range anxiety? Not a new thing. My father, b 1905, told me as a child a doctor on his block in Indianapolis had a car,~1910. Doctor used it for patient visits when/where trolley did not run. Doctor and wife invited him on a Sunday drive to Martinsville, a county seat 30+ miles from the neighborhood. With dusters and goggles off they went with occasional stops to check fuel with a measuring stick. Once halfway down the stick that was the turning point. Picnic lunch by roadside and then return. No Martinsville for him which would be like going to London for a boy rarely out of his neighborhood. 

More to the story but that is the key point.

[KJHburg]

My friends new 2023 Bronco 1966 Limited Heritage Edition evidently there was only 1966 of these made.   They bought it from a dealer in NY state.  

It is really nice I can tell you that.  Seen in the Charleston area. 

[Genesis704]

I’m sure my Lexus has been spotted uptown quite a few times..as I’ve ended up on exoticspotters in the “other” in the charlotte section and yes i drive it this height LOL

 

i also have a LS400  just nowhere near as low

but if you’re curious, this is the Japanese VIP low rider  style brought into fruition by the yakuza. Crazy, interesting, but cool story.

 

AWESOME to see some auto enthusiasts on here!! I used to post exocticspotters back when I lived in Greensboro, my name was GSOexotics.

but here are my babies

Edited October 20, 2023 by Genesis704

[nicholas]

9 hours ago, Genesis704 said:

I’m sure my Lexus has been spotted uptown quite a few times..as I’ve ended up on exoticspotters in the “other” in the charlotte section and yes i drive it this height LOL

 

i also have a LS400  just nowhere near as low

but if you’re curious, this is the Japanese VIP low rider  style brought into fruition by the yakuza. Crazy, interesting, but cool story.

 

AWESOME to see some auto enthusiasts on here!! I used to post exocticspotters back when I lived in Greensboro, my name was GSOexotics.

but here are my babies

Not the biggest fan of super lowered cars personally, But that LS has aged well and looks really clean on that set up.

I've probably been seen a ton of times around Charlotte.  More often than not I am on my Honda CBR600RR but I also have a grey BMW 328i coupe with red leather interior and six speed manual transmission.

[nicholas]

@Genesis704 ironically I saw your GS cruising through South End last Sunday. Over by the DFA building.

[DJ8hep]

I’ve been catching this parked by the office lately!

[Genesis704]

On 10/25/2023 at 9:54 AM, nicholas said:

@Genesis704 ironically I saw your GS cruising through South End last Sunday. Over by the DFA building.

Yeah lol, I live about 3 minutes from south end, so I always exercise on the trail along the light rail/sycamore 

Edited October 27, 2023 by Genesis704

[KJHburg]

New car dealer in Charlotte in Southpark's Apex development.  A division of Volvo and all EVs the Polestar dealership.  

[turbocraig]

1 hour ago, KJHburg said:

New car dealer in Charlotte in Southpark's Apex development.  A division of Volvo and all EVs the Polestar dealership.  

A friend of mine went there last month to test drive one.  He didn’t end up buying a Polestar but said he was impressed with the experience.  

[KJHburg]

Rolls Royce is opening a showroom inside and maybe  behind the McLaren dealership on South Tryon fyi. 

McLaren Charlotte | Rolls-Royce For Sale | Rolls-Royce Dealer | McLaren Charlotte (charlottemclaren.com)

[CLT Development]

5 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Rolls Royce is opening a showroom inside and maybe  behind the McLaren dealership on South Tryon fyi. 

McLaren Charlotte | Rolls-Royce For Sale | Rolls-Royce Dealer | McLaren Charlotte (charlottemclaren.com)

KJ can you help me sell my house so that I can buy one of these and live in it?

[InSouthPark]

12 hours ago, CLT Development said:

KJ can you help me sell my house so that I can buy one of these and live in it?

Can you finance car insurance?  It has to cost $10k+ a year for a Phantom.  I pay $1k a year for my 17 year old on a 2009 CRV with 235k miles and no collision LOL. 

[videtur quam contuor]

In this time today of vast amounts of cash coursing through the economy, this reminds me of a conversation in 2009 during the Great Financial Recession. A man I knew in a social context was owner of an office and commercial construction company. In the rest of his life he moved in financial circles far above mine. During a casual conversation he mentioned that if I were interested in taking over a lease on a gently used Bentley he was SURE  there was an arrangement that could be made. Not him, but those he knew with their mojo broken by circumstances far out of their control.

Those who recall the time know that many had misallocated their financial abilities, exchanged utility for status in transportation, and did not consider the potential for sudden economic reversion to mean.